Myth: To be a board trustee at Kent District Library, your best shot is that you’re a library user, a library advocate and a library “insider.”

Truth:Penny Weller shatters all those myths, and so can you.

When the retired school teacher learned there was an open seat on KDL’s board, she very reluctantly threw her hat into the ring. Penny hadn’t frequented the library since her now-grown kids were in school. She already volunteered at Spectrum Health, for the Lion’s Club and other local organizations. And trouble with her eyesight meant she hadn’t read much at all for the past few years.

But she can bake like nobody’s business.

In the two years Penny has been a KDL Board trustee, she’s provided cupcakes, cookies, sheet cakes and dessert bars for countless events. And not just a couple dozen; we’re talking hundreds for each event. Penny recently whipped up more than 100 cupcakes in four flavors, two pans of lemon bars and a pair of large Texas sheet cakes for KDL’s Volunteer Appreciation event.

Of course, Penny’s duties as a trustee center on what some might call less delicious — but extremely integral — aspects. As one of eight appointed volunteer trustees, she helps create policies and procedures for KDL and its 18 branches; adopts our annual budget and approves expenditures, among other tasks.

“They still talk over my head sometimes, but I continue to learn as much as I can,” she says. “Now, all I do is support the library. They knew they could suck me in.”

Morgan J. is a KDL communications assistant. She spends summers as a “hood ornament” of sorts while her husband captains their old, cedar-sided pontoon down the Flat River. In the wintertime she counts the days until she’ll have her toes in the water again.

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on Tuesday, November 27th, 2012 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Giving to KDL, News.
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